Tommy Thompson says he won't eliminate Medicare

Oct. 5, 2012

U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Thompson takes questions from a panel of journalists during a Milwaukee Press Club event in Milwaukee on Friday, Oct. 5, 2012. Responding to a campaign ad that has him saying he would eliminate Medicare and Medicaid and criticisms that he's not campaigning enough, Thompson tole the panel he won't eliminate Medicare and Medicaid and he has never taken a campaign for granted. (AP Photo/Carrie Antlfinger) / AP

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MILWAUKEE — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Thompson said Friday he would save Medicare and Medicaid, not kill the subsidy programs an opposition campaign ad shows him saying.

Thompson attempted to clarify his position during an appearance at the Milwaukee Press Club that was less than five weeks from the election. He faces Democrat Tammy Baldwin for Wisconsin’s open Senate seat, a race that will help determine whether Republicans take control of the chamber.

The television ad in question is from the liberal group Majority PAC and shows Thompson telling a conservative group in June that he would do away with Medicare and Medicaid.

On Friday, Thompson said he’s worried the programs’ funding will run out.

“I am here to save Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security but you have to make some adjustments,” he said.

Thompson said under his plan, those on Medicare who are over 55 in 2020 would stay on the program. Anyone under that age limit could choose to go on Medicare knowing it would be bankrupt in 2024 or join the federal health insurance benefit for federal employees, he said.

The campaign wouldn’t respond to repeated attempts for more information about Thompson’s assertions.

Thompson also tried to distance himself from Republican vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan’s plan to overhaul Medicare by introducing a voucher-like plan that future retirees could use to buy private health insurance.

“The Tommy Thompson plan once again innovation that will make Medicare protected for people forever in this country,” Thompson said.

He offered few details on what he’d do to change Medicaid and Social Security.

Baldwin spokesman John Kraus emailed a statement Friday, accusing Thompson of working with drug companies when he was Health and Human Services Secretary under President George W. Bush to make it illegal negotiate lower drug prices.

“Medicare also moved nine years closer to bankruptcy when he was in charge of the program,” Kraus said.

Thompson spokesman Lisa Boothe responded by email.

“Medicare Part D, which Tommy Thompson was the architect of, is a successful public-private partnership … Baldwin’s alternative is a complete and total government takeover of health care,” Boothe wrote.

Also Friday, Thompson was asked about concerns raised by his own backers that he’s not campaigning hard enough.

“Nobody is going to be able to outwork me, nobody ever has,” he said, adding that he did have to devote effort to raising money. He admitted last month that his campaign was broke after the Aug. 14 Republican primary.

A Marquette University Law School poll released Wednesday showed Baldwin with a 4 percentage point lead over Thompson — 48 percent to 44 percent. The gap that falls in the poll’s 3.3 percentage point margin of error.

She held a 9-point lead in the same poll two weeks ago. The latest poll of 894 likely voters was taken Sept. 27 through Sunday.